Pictures: Giant Squid Get Extreme Plastic Surgery

Giant Squid in Suspended Animation
Image courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
Seemingly frozen in mid-swim, this "plastinated" giant squid is one of two awaiting their public debuts later this month.
Plastination, which replaces fat and body fluids with silicone, has been carried out on a giant squid before (picture), but the two newly plastinated squid are "the most lifelike specimens yet," said New Zealand squid expert Steve O'Shea.
O'Shea, of the Auckland University of Technology, donated the giant squid, which had been found washed up on a New Zealand beach in 2004, to the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany. The institute is led by anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who invented the preservation process.
The force behind the "Body Worlds" museum exhibitions, von Hagens's organization has plastinated elephants, humans, and other animals (see pictures of plastinated humans from another group). But the giant squid—rare, delicate, and boneless—were the institute's biggest plastination challenges yet, O'Shea said. (Not to be confused with celebrity plastic surgery.)
—Dave Hansford in Wellington, New Zealand
Published March 26, 2010
Giant Squid's Inner Life Revealed
Image courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
The result of two years' work, 12 plastination technicians' efforts, and 396 gallons (1,500 liters) of silicone, a 16-foot-long (5-meter) preserved giant squid—one of two recently plastinated—is shown in a double exposure.
On one side (bottom), the squid has been cross-sectioned, revealing the inner structure and organs usually hidden by the mantle.
"Knowing the condition they were in when I sent them to [plastination pioneer Gunther von Hagens], this is fantastic reconstructive surgery," squid expert Steve O'Shea said. "This guy is an artist."
(Related: "Cadaver Exhibition Draws Crowds, Controversy in Florida.")
Published March 26, 2010
Giant Squid to Be Separated
Image courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
Positioned as if reluctantly parting ways, the two plastinated giant squid will soon be oceans apart.
One giant squid will return to New Zealand and be displayed at Auckland University of Technology's Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute. The other will tour internationally in a "Body Worlds" exhibition.
Giant squid grow to a length of about 33 feet (10 meters) and are only rarely encountered live. More than 130 have been recovered, mainly from fishing nets and beach strandings, around the coast of New Zealand.
Published March 26, 2010
Giant Squid, Pre-Plastination
Photograph courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
Prior to the plastination process, one of the two giant squid, which had been frozen for the trip from New Zealand, thawed in liquid formaldehyde in a Chinese lab, which helps arrest decay.
Plastination pioneer Gunther von Hagens practiced on dozens of lesser squid before cutting into what squid expert Steve O'Shea called the "two priceless specimens."
(Related: "Alien-like Squid With 'Elbows' Filmed at Drilling Site.")
Published March 26, 2010
Pre-Plastination Dissection
Photograph courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
During 105 hours of dissection (pictured), the squid's skin and much of their fatty and connective tissues were removed.
In 1975 Gunther von Hagens developed plastination as a way to study anatomy and physiology. Plastinated specimens do not decay.
(Related pictures: colossal squid revealed in first in-depth look.)
Published March 26, 2010
Let the Plastination Begin
Photograph courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
After dissection, one of the giant squid awaits the start of the plastination process, which took 260 hours for both specimens.
Next, acetone, the solvent used on nail polish remover, will be injected to dissolve remaining materials such as soluble fats, which will then be vacuumed out. The resulting cavities will be filled with silicone.
Plastination has preserved the inner secrets of giraffes, horses, and people. But the giant squid, which contain huge amounts of water, posed a huge challenge.
The creature's easily damaged skin demanded that body fluids be replaced with silicone at a much slower rate. Furthermore, maintaining a lifelike posture with no skeleton to support it demanded all of von Hagens's skills—as did the creatures' complex eyes, notoriously difficult organs to preserve.
The result, said squid expert Steve O'Shea, "is as much art as it is science."
(See the first ever pictures of a live giant squid.)
Published March 26, 2010
Giant Squid Nip/Tuck
Photograph courtesy Auckland University of Technology
Now plastinated but not quite ready for their close-ups, the two giant plastic surgery patients are pinned, clamped, and wired for scientific beauty in the Dalian, China, plastination lab.
Lacking skeletons, the giant squid required the hardware to hold lifelike poses while the squishy specimens cured and polymers hardened around them—a yearlong process.
(See a picture of a "whopper" giant squid that washed ashore in Australia.)
Published March 26, 2010
Hold That Pose
Photograph courtesy and copyright Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination
Positioning the giant squid was the most delicate part of the preservation process. Placement and removal of the needles had to be done with utmost care to avoid damaging the creatures' soft skin.
Later, on seeing the finished product, squid expert Steve O'Shea said the plastination success opened up all sorts of possibilities. For one thing, "we could plasticise a sperm whale," he said, "and display these two mortal enemies in combat."
(Rare pictures: giant squid eaten by sperm whale.)
Published March 26, 2010